


Operation Husky

by Bolt41319



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-19
Updated: 2018-09-19
Packaged: 2019-07-14 07:55:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,108
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16036214
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bolt41319/pseuds/Bolt41319
Summary: In the depths of World War II, Allied soldier Robin Locksley walks into a diner in Palermo, Italy and becomes infatuated with the waitress that helps run the Italian Resistance.Inspired by @starscythe’s gorgeous WWII manipFor Inspired By OQ





	Operation Husky

As the prolonged  _ boom _ echoed through the sky her hands clenched at the service counter, the same string of prayers running through her head. 

_ Pray for the soldiers. Pray for the civilians. Pray for an end.  _

When rumble finally came to an end, she worked around the diner to put back up fallen photographs and fix shifted napkins. Granny emerged from the kitchen, wiping her hands on her apron as he looked out the window. 

“You’d think after 4 years this might finally end.”

Regina scoffed and tucked a fallen strand of hair back into her bun. “It’ll never end. Their incessant racism is being fueled with bombs and death. It’s a cycle that will only end when Hitler and Mussolini are finally brought down.” 

“There’s always a chance, Regina. More people here and realizing that Italy’s alliances in this war were carried on with Mussolini’s hatred.” Her fingers trace over the  _ Italian Resistance _ sticker carefully placed in a lower corner of the restaurant window. “This could all be over soon enough. Just you wait.” 

The year was 1943, and they were in the thick of the Second World War. Regina moved to Palermo in 1941 when she turned 18, ready to live a life filled with art and literature. Two years later she had a son, and was working in Granny’s Diner trying to make enough to get as far away from the war as she could. She wanted to build a life for herself and her little boy that was oceans away from his hell, somewhere they could start over and be  _ normal.  _

Henry sat under the counter of the restaurant, patting his little hand against his knee as the other drove his toy car across the floor. She found him one night on her walk back from the market, hidden between a mailbox and a fencepost with layers of dirt coating his skin and clothes. He’d taken to her immediately when she scooped him up and brought him back the shelter with her. His mother had been taken captive by the Axis Police for shouting obscenities about the Germans, and he had watched as they drug her away screaming for him to hide, that someone would find him. 

Regina had been with Henry for two years now. They learned through talk from the Italian Resistance that his mother had been sentenced to prison for her crimes against the city, and was being held captive by the German forces back in Florence. 

She walked back behind the counter and knelt down, smiling at Henry drove his car up over her leg in little circles. “Mama Regina, can I have some juice?” 

“Of course.” She lifts him up onto the counter and he starts showing off his toy car to Granny while Regina fills up his apple juice. 

It wasn’t easy, raising an orphaned 5 year old by herself at the age of 20, but they managed. She could always feel the stares, could hear the rumors spread about the young and foolish mother, the  _ poor boy raised by someone so risqué as to have had a bastard child at 15 _ , so she began making up stories about his Papa away at war, and trying to make a living through troubling times. She wanted Henry to have friends, to be able to go on playdates and go to school without whispers and stares. 

Granny had been a godsend for them both. She and Henry stumbled upon the restaurant one night after a particularly loud fight broke out in the square. She’d spotted the sticker in the window days before, when word broke out of an invasion of British Armies in Syracuse. 

_ She ran into the diner, soaked from the rain, with a sleeping Henry strapped to her back. Her wet hair stuck to her face and she leaned gently back against the door, careful to keep Henry asleep.  _

_ “You look exhausted.”  _

_ Her eyes shot open and fell upon the older woman behind the counter. “It’s brutal out there. The supporters have overtaken the square and it’s a battle. Poor kid here slept through the whole thing.”  _

_ “If only we were all that lucky” the woman chuckled. She poured a cup of coffee and slid it across the counter. “Here, sit. I’ll get you some soup, and maybe a sandwich. You’ve no meat on your bones.”  _

_ Regina carefully slid Henry into the booth, smoothed backed his hair and pressed a kiss to his forehead. “I have no money. But thank you though. I was just trying to get him away from the violence. We’ll be out of your hair soon enough.”  _

_ “Nonsense, you sit and eat.”  _

_ Regina hesitated before sitting at the stool in front of the coffee. She lifted it slowly, her body taking a moment as she inhaled the dark roast, a small smile forming on her lips. She sipped the coffee slowly and felt it move through her body, warming her to the tips of her toes. “This is incredible. I’ve missed coffee. Thank you...”  _

_ “Granny” the woman says as she pushes the biggest bowl of soup Regina’s ever seen across the counter.  _

_ “Thank you Granny. I’m Regina, that’s Henry” she nods to the booth.  _

_ They talk through the evening, long after Henry wakes and eats his own grilled cheese and drinks hot chocolate.  _

_ As they finish up hours have passed, and Regina dreads taking him back out into the slow ending violence to the homeless shelter. She glances back out the window and turns back to Henry, watching quietly as he shows off his toy plane to Granny.  _

_ “Where are you two sleeping?”  _

_ Regina stares at her coffee, shrugging slowly. “Depends on the day. Tonight we’re heading to the shelter up the road to see how that goes. There’s more kids there, so Henry can play with someone.” _

_ Granny shakes her head and points toward the back of the diner. “Or you can stay here, and work for me. There’s rooms in the back that I’ve been using as safe-havens for kids like you.” _

_ Regina shakes her head, listing a string of reasons why she can’t, when Granny stops her. _

_ “Nonsense, the rooms getting cobwebs, and you two need a good home. A real home, not one where the Axis can come in at any moment.” _

_ “Granny, they could come in here-” _

_ “You see that sticker there?” She asks, pointing toward the resistance sticker in the window. “You two are safe here. I know which side you lie on- you wouldn’t have taken him in if you didn’t. We meet here once a week. You can work in the diner, take care of your boy, and stay safe in a place that actually stands a chance. Make enough money to get out of here before the Germans take over the country.” _

_ Regina shakes her head as tears start to fall. “I- thank you, but I can’t take from you. We have no money to pay for a room.” _

_ “I don’t need money, Regina. We need allies. Are you in?” _

That night, she and Henry moved into the tiny one bedroom apartment behind the diner and Regina officially joined the resistance against the war. 

The bell above the door rung, and two men walked in, sweat glistening from their brow as they took of their hats. 

The first man, Will, was a frequent voice at their meetings. He was originally from England, and had moved to Italy in the years before the war. The man behind him Regina hadn’t seen before, but he wore a British Allies uniform and had the deepest blue eyes she’d ever seen. 

Henry stops and turns at the sound of the door, a shrill “Uncle Will!” escaping him as he jumps off the counter and into his makeshift uncle’s arms. 

Will picks up him up with a spin and tosses the young boy in the air. “Hey mate” he laughs. “You being a good boy for your Mum and Granny?” 

Henry starts nodding and tells Will all about their past week at the park. His rambles slow down when his eyes fall upon the man in uniform, and he curls against his uncles chest, still nervous at the sight of anyone from the war. He had nightmares still, would wake up screaming for his Mommy and cowered at the sight of men within rank. 

“Uncle Will who’s that?” 

“Don’t be scared mate” Will says as he turns to the man. “This is Robin. He fights for the good side. The same side your Mum and Granny are on. They aren’t here to take you.”

The man, Robin, lifts his hand and gives Henry a little wave. Henry stares apprehensively before scrambling down Wills side and walking over to him. 

“I’m Henry” he says, holding his hand out. Regina sucks in a breath- since his mother’s arrest he hadn’t stepped foot near a soldier, Allied or Axis. Henry stood tall, as tall as a 5 year old could, when Robin knelt down in front of him and shook his hand. 

“It’s a pleasure, Henry. Thank you for letting me join Will in your families diner.” 

Henry’s chest puffs out with pride, and he flashes a quick excited smile to Regina, before turning back to Robin with his little scowl on his face. He shakes his hand as firmly as he can, and gives Robin a strict nod. “I guess you can stay. Uncle Will is safe, so you must be safe too.” 

“That’s very honorable of you. It shows great courage to let someone in when you don’t quite know them. It’s a big step in growing up. Your Mum there is probably very proud.” Robin glances up above Henry and his eyes fall on Regina, who watches the scene unfold with tears glistening in her eyes. 

Henry turns at that, and the pride sketched across his face makes her heart melt. “Mama Regina tells me all the time that I’m her little savior. I have to keep her safe.” 

At that she comes around the counter and wraps her arms around the little boy, pressing a kiss to the mop of brown hair on top of his head. “Now that’s enough.” She smiles at the blue eyed man and sticks her hand out to him as he stands. “Regina Mills. Any friend of Will’s is welcome here.” 

His warm hand slips into hers and he smiles. “Robin Locksley, member of the 15th Army. Will tells me this is the headquarters for the resistance?” 

She nods, and pats Henry on the back, telling him to go play while the grown-ups talk. “We try to keep him away from any war talk. He’s still sensitive about his Mom, and his nightmares are finally getting better.” 

“You aren’t his Mum?” 

“He’s adopted” she smiles, glancing back at Henry who’s back pushing his race car across the tile floor. “His Mom was arrested for treason against Hitler.” 

“Lords above, that poor boy” Robin sighs. 

“He’s adjusting to it. I think as he’s getting older the hope that she’ll come back one day is starting to fade a little more, but there’s still a little bit of hope that she hasn’t been executed. But that’s a somber conversation for another day. So, why did Will decide to grace us with your presence today?”

Will pats Robin on the shoulder as he steps up next to him. “My mate here has news on the latest battle in the war. We need to get everyone together and make a plan of escape. Can you make the call?”

“I’ll get the buzz out. Out back tonight at 10?” 

They all look to Granny for the final word, and with her nod Regina heads to the phone start the calls. 

Hours later, after a grumpy Henry was finally asleep after begging to stay up and join their “party”, they met in the back room of the diner. 10 of them crowded around the little round table, arms pressed tightly against one anothers as they look down at the Sicilian map spread across the table. 

“Operation Husky was formally implemented on the 9th of July” Robin begins. 

As he explains the trajectory of the Allies path up Sicily, she watches him. His hands trace the paths over the map with Will’s hand following closely behind to draw out the lines. His eyes meet her, a quick fleeting glance, but the little smirk he shows doesn’t leave his lips as he continues to talk. He goes through the strings of possibilities they’d heard from the German forces, and Granny gives him the latest Italian rumors. 

She watches the way his lips move as he explains how they should all seek out shelter, or leave Palermo altogether. Regina snaps out of her trance and shakes her head quickly. “No, we’re not leaving. That isn’t an option.” 

“Regina” Mary Margaret starts. “Are you listening? They’re going to bomb us. The city’s going to get destroyed.” 

Regina shakes her head again, pushing herself back from the table to pace. “And what are we if we run? This building has been a safe haven for  _ years _ . During every battle we’ve tended to the hurt. Our friends have died for this. Some of your husbands and wives died for this. What do we become if we run?” 

“Regina it’s a death sentence” Mary Margaret stops her. 

“It we aren’t willing to sacrifice something for this war, what right do we have to fight? We’re no better than the men out to kill us for trying to change. We owe this to every person who has lost their lives in this massacre. If we take away their sanctuary we leave them like a lamb to the slaughter.” 

She pulls a picture off the wall opposite their table and sets it down in the center. 

“I’m staying for them. You all can do what you want. But Graham, August,  _ Mulan _ , they did not die so we could just-  _ run _ .” 

She turned and walked out of the room, chest heaving with anger. She could hear yelling through the door as she leaned against the wall, slipping down slowly till she sat with her knees pressed to her chest. 

“Your passion about all of this is incredible.” Robin slips down next to her, their thighs brushing as he leans against the wall. He holds two beers in his hand and passes one silently to her. 

Regina smiles and drops her head back, eyes never fully leaving his. “Thanks” she nods, taking a swig from the bottle. “The war started when I turned 16. I was already so opinionated anyway…. by the time the war was in full force I’d picked a side my parents didn’t approve of and was planning a way out of the mainland.” She stares down the neck of the bottle, watching the amber liquid swirl slowly back to a settle. 

“Who died?”

Tears fill her eyes and she pulls a worn picture from the pocket of her apron. “Daniel was the love of my life. When I left for college he wanted to stay behind. His dream was to travel the world after the war ended. I got a phone call, his family was in Rome when a fight broke out between the Axis and the Allies. One of the Axis soldiers- he… Daniel got shot. He died around the same time that Henry and I found Granny.” 

Her eyes fall back down to the picture, tears falling on her cheeks. “I can’t leave. We’ve all lost someone to this war. I’ve lost my lover, my best friend, my family. Running away from this isn’t an option for me.”

“I know.” He reaches out and takes her hand, squeezing it tightly. “My brother John was shot down by the Luftwaffe in 1940. That’s the main reason that I joined the war, was to honor his memory.” His other hand lifts his beer to his lips. “Regina, I’m not saying that you have to leave. No one can tell you how to live your life. But you shouldn’t risk everything. A lot of people in this town are well aware of what happened in the south. It’s inevitable that it’ll come up here soon enough. You need to be safe.”

“I will be.” 

He stands up, hand stretched out for her to take. 

Regina eyes his hand carefully but takes it, gripping her beer tightly when he pulls her up. She pauses for a moment, watching at he brushes dust from his pants and straightens his jacket. He looks down at her and smirks, brushing the dust from the sides of her skirt as well. 

“A little forward there, aren’t we?” she smirks. 

“I- you- i’m so sorry, I didn’t mean to.” He looks up and the laugh she’s trying to hold breaks out. “You’re messing with me.”

“It was too easy” she laughs. “Thank you.”

He shakes his head, insisting there is nothing to thank, but she stops him. “Everyone else in there has their own reasons to be here, and you validated mine. Just- thank you.” She stretches up, the tips of her toes and presses a chaste kiss to his cheek. 

Two weeks later, Robin walked into the diner and sat himself at the same stool he’d been in everyday since they met. Every afternoon he found himself holed up in the corner of the restaurant, nursing a glass of whiskey and flirting shamelessly with the gorgeous woman he’d become infatuated with. She sidled up to the other side of the bar, nursing a glass of red wine and grinning at him as he recalls his day of trainings and meetings. She lifts the bottle from under the bar to fill her glass back up. 

Neither of them were prepared for the rumbling explosion that shook the diner to its core. 

Wine splashed across her apron, staining her neck and across her arms. She looks down to Henry hiding under the counter, who looks back up at her with tears in his eyes. “M-mama” he starts to cry, but he looks back up in shock. 

“Robin-” she starts, but he was quickly turned to the window, watching as people scrambled through the streets. 

He turns back to her, the fear etched across his face. “Robin what are you-” 

Her words are lost when his hands clutch her face, pulling her in for a deep kiss. “Take Henry and get into the shelter and don’t fucking move until I come back for you. Do you understand?”

She shakes her head, chest heaving as she holds back tears. “Robin, just don’t go out there. Please,  _ please _ don’t go. Stay here, with us.” Another explosion sounds in the distance and she flinches, leaning in to kiss him. She takes from their kiss everything she’s felt in the past two weeks, pouring her heart into his. She nips at his bottom lip, pressed against the hard frame of his body. “Don’t go. Please don’t fucking go out there. I can’t-” 

He kisses her again before pulling away. Robin presses his forehead to hers, gripping the back of her head with his hands. “Go, hide. Please, i’ll be back for you soon.” He kisses her one last time and grabs his rifle and his medical kid, running out the door. 

She picks up Henry from under the counter, cradling his head to his shoulder. “I’m sorry baby, i’m so sorry. We need to hide.” 

Gunshots ring out from outside the diner and Henry cries harder into her shoulder. Snapping out of her trance, Regina runs to their little apartment and grabs a blanket and Henry’s stuffed elephant. 

“Mama it’s loud” he sobs into her shirt. The heartbreaking whimper he lets out brings tears to her eyes as she whispers words of love to him, rushing them back into the kitchen. 

“Oh thank gods” Granny lets out, opening the door to their fallout shelter to usher them inside. “Get in, get in.” She takes the sobbing Henry from Regina’s arms, soothing his cries, eyeing Regina. “What in the hell are you covered in? Is that blood?” 

Regina shakes her head, her eyes focused on the steps of the shelter. “Wine- it’s wine. I was pouring some for myself when Robin- oh gods, Granny I have to go get Robin.” 

“The  _ fuck  _ you do Regina, that’s a death sentence. Get your ass in here so I can close that door.” Granny carries Henry down the steps and settles him down onto the couch in their basement, tucking his elephant into his arms and pressing a kiss to his forehead. “Hold on dear” she whispers, turning back to Regina. “Now you, get in here. You’re not going back out there.”

The tears start to fall, her head shaking as she backs up the stairs. “No, Granny you don’t get it. He went out there with a gun and his med kit. He’s going to need help and he’s out there all alone. I can’t- Granny I  _ have to _ .” 

Granny takes Regina’s face into her hands, wiping her tears away with the pads of her thumbs. “Regina you don’t understand what you’re doing.”

“No!” she yells, the tears falling harder. “I already lost one person I care about to this fucking war, i’m not losing another. I’m going- please watch Henry. I love you both, so much. You- you’re the mother I always-”

“Absolutely not” Granny stops her. Her voice is wavering, and the tears Granny usually refuses to let fall slip down her cheeks. “Go hug your boy, but you do  _ not _ get to say goodbye. This isn’t goodbye because you’ll be back here with that man of yours in a minute. You hear me?” 

“Yes ma’am” Regina sucks in. “I-” she slips past Granny and pulls Henry into her arms, pressing kisses to his cheeks. “I’ll be back soon, okay? I’ll be back soon, I promise.”

“Mama don’t go” he cries, clutching tightly to her. “Mama please stay.”

She holds him tightly in her arms, squeezing him into a big hug. “You’ll be safe with Granny, okay?” Her tears soak into his hair and she presses one last kiss to his forehead. “I love you.”

Regina passes him into Granny’s arms and presses a quick kiss to her cheek. “Thank you.”

Granny’s tears fall and she hugs a sobbing Henry to her chest. “Hurry, Regina. Please.” 

She bolts back up the steps, catching herself on a slip as another explosion shakes the diner. Her chest shakes as she starts to run again, grabbing her hidden handgun and her medical kit from under the counter to slide into the belt of her skirt. Regina bursts out the door and faces what may be her worst nightmare. 

_ Pray for the soldiers, pray for the civilians, pray for an end. _

The buildings around the diner are crumbling to a fall. Screams and echoes of crashing cement ring through the air, swirling through the sky with the dust collecting on her shoes. “Robin!” she screams out, covering her mouth to shield from the dust. “Robin are you still out here?”

When she rounds the corner at least 10 bodies are lying on the ground, groans slipping from them. Regina rushes over immediately, tending to the first wounded child she see’s still breathing. The little girl, with blood pouring from a nasty cut on her forehead, tell’s Regina what happened as she butterfly bandages her back together. As soon as she finished and sends the child to the diner, she hears her name being yelled out. 

“Regina! Regina what in bloody hell are you doing out here?”

Regina spins and her eyes fall on him rushing toward her. “Robin” she whispers out, relief flooding her veins when he collects her into his arms and presses a kiss to her lips. 

“I told you to stay inside” he whispers, running his hands over her cheeks and down her shoulders. 

“Like hell I was sending you out here all alone” she quips back, kissing him quickly. “We need to move quick. There’s a few casualties in this group, but I swore I heard another child’s voice coming from the rubble over there.”

Regina presses a chaste kiss to his lips and goes off toward the pile of broken cement walls. 

Robin stares, shocked at the incredible woman on the forefront of the war. He snaps out of his daze moments later and runs to her side, helping to lift the other side of the pile. 

“I hear something” she yell over the gunshots ringing out behind them. She lifts a final piece and her eyes fall on a little boy, no more than 3 or 4, with a mop of curly brown hair filled with dirt. 

The little boy sobs out a weak “help me” and goes to lift his arms, a stuffed monkey clutched in his hand, but winces back with a shriek. Regina sees the snap in the boys arm and she immediately leans in, showering promises of help and freedom to the boy while Robin continues to move the cement. 

Finally free, Regina carefully pulls the boy and his toy from the pile. Robin opens his back up and starts pulling out a wrapping bandage. “You need to hold his arm still” Robin tells her before looking to the boy. “Hey, buddy, my name is Robin and this is Regina, okay? What’s your name?”

“R-roland” the boy cries, pressing himself into Regina’s chest. “My arm-”

“Shh, we know baby” she tells him, pressing a kiss to his hair. “Robin is going to use those bandages there to strap your arm to your chest, okay? And then i’m going to carry you to Granny’s and she’ll take care of you.”

He nods and whimpers while Robin begins to wrap his arm to his chest. “Roland, where’s your Mama and Papa?” 

“Papa said they’d come back for me soon, b-but when I woke up they were all g-gone” he cries. He winces again and lets out a cry when Robin’s hands put a little too much pressure on his broken arm. “They said when I woke up Mama would be making eggs b-” he hiccups. “But Mama and Papa were gone. So then it got dark and I sleeped again and when I woke up today they still didn’t come back. And then there was the big boom and our whole house shaked so I hid in the tub with my monkey. Mama said the tub is safe in the rumbles. But they got louder and louder and our house falled.” 

Regina cradles the boy safe to her chest. “I’m so sorry Roland. We’ve got you now, you’re safe. And if we can find your Mama and Papa we will, okay?”

Roland nods an okay and Robin finishes up. “Okay, he’s good. You take him back, i’m going to check the rest of the building.”

She carefully stands and shifts Roland in her arms, carrying him back to the diner while Robin follows back into the building next door. She lifts the latch to the shelter and passes Roland to Granny, explaining that she’ll be back soon.

Once she makes it back outside, her world stops turning. 

The flash of the scope passes across her torso. 

She barely feels the bullet as it pierces her hip, barely recognizes the dizzy feeling swirling through her head as she looks down to see the blood against her fingertips. 

“Regina, no!”

Her world collapses in, until strong arm wrap around her, laying her slowly down onto the pavement. His face takes over her frame of sight, the moonlight bursting behind his head as he cradles her carefully. “Regina, what did you do?” 

“I-i’m fine” she breathes out. She feels him push her hand out of the way of the wound, sticky metallic blood coating her fingertips. She stares at her hand, losing focus slowly before he takes her face into his clean hand. “Regina, no, look at me. Don’t look at the blood- oh  _ god _ there is so much blood. Please, love, just look at me, okay?”

She hears yelling behind her, him calling out for someone to go get Granny from inside the diner. Help, they need some ‘ _ fucking help _ ’ he yells out. There is shouting; men from his barracks climbing out of tanks with extra bags of medical supplies. 

She feels like a ghost, watching everyone rush around her body. 

The words ‘shooter’ and ‘dead’ are echoing through her head now, and a fog starts to settle in. “Robin” she chokes out, reaching her hand up toward his face.

“No, love you need to lay still.” His voice is watery, like he’s been crying but she can’t see the tears through her blurred vision. “The men are going to get Granny so we can carry you inside, okay? But- no, no you need to stay awake Regina” he tells her as her eyes begin to close. 

“Just want to nap” she whimpers, eyes fading again. 

He leans in and kisses her hard but quick. “No napping love. Not yet, okay? Not until we get you inside and Granny can help me get this bullet out.”

She feels the burning sensation in her side, flaring from her hip down through her leg. “Hurts” she chokes out. 

“Being shot is the fucking  _ worst _ isn’t it” he jokes, and she lets go a chuckle with a hard wince. 

“L-laughing hurts” she grimaces again. “Henry can’t s-see this, Robin. He’ll be scared.”

He presses a kiss to her forehead, telling her he knows, just to hang on. Moments later she hears more yelling, more gunfire overhead. He calls out for Will, yes, Will can keep Henry and Granny safe. She barely registers when he tells her to just breathe, that they’re going to lift her onto the makeshift stretcher. The pain is only a simmer until she feels the mens strong hands gripping her shoulders and thighs. An echoing scream rips through her when they shift her to the stretcher and she thinks she might faint. 

“Almost there, love” Robin continues. 

Her eyes slowly fall back open and she sees Will carrying the other side of the stretcher, and scared grin on his face. “Hey there sleeping beauty” he chokes out. His voice is as watery as Robins was. “Thought we made a vow not to get ourselves shot.”

“Fu-fuck you” she laughs out, followed by a wince and a wheeze. She stares at the stars above her, eyes fading in and out ‘til she recognizes the ceiling of the diner. 

“Oh lords above, girl, what did you do?” 

Oh, Granny. Granny’s pissed, Reinga just knows it. 

“Sorry” she chokes out, but Granny fusses at her for trying to speak. 

She hears her giving Robin and Will directions for the antiseptic, tweezers, and a few bottles of vodka. “There’s a bottle for me and for you” Granny whispers to her with a smile. 

“Henry-”

“Your boy’s safe. Both of them are, the little girl too. Her mum came in for her a few minutes ago, Aurora was her name. She’s watching the boys and her girl Violet. Now, I need you to lie back and trust me, okay? This is going to hurt, but when I get it out in one go you’ll be all better.”

Robins face comes back into view and she smiles up at him, watching when he passes the vodka to Granny and takes a swig from the bottle meant for her. He leans over and kisses her slowly, his hands pushing the stray hairs back from her face. “Okay love, just hang on.”

Regina lets out a gut-wrenching scream as she feels the vodka and Granny’s tweezers burning into her skin, and finally faints from the pain. 

She wakes days later in the fallout shelter, a burning pain in her hip. Her eyes open slowly and fall upon Robin, asleep with Henry curled against his chest, watching his mother carefully. 

“Mama?” 

“Hi baby” she sighs out. He pats his hand against Robins cheek and she laughs as the man startles. 

“Henry, buddy what is it? What’s wrong-”

“Robin it’s Mama!”

He looks up at her and his eyes grow watery. “Hey you” he lets out, lifting Henry into his arm to walk to her bed. Henry clambers out of his arms and settles next to Regina, ignoring Robin’s protests of  _ ‘oh no, be careful’.  _

“He’s fine” she tells him, wrapping her good arm around her son. “How long have I been out?”

“A little over a week” Robin tells her, pulling the chair across the room to sit next to her. He takes her hand and squeezes gently, his free hand running over Henry’s back. He cuddles himself into her chest, his eyes slowly falling shut. 

Robin stares at the two for minutes, watching as she rubs circles into Henry’s back. “He’s missed you. He wouldn’t leave the room for more than a minute, kept telling Granny and I that he needed to keep you safe.”

She strings her fingers through his hair, tears welling in her eyes. “He’s always been my little savior” she smiles. “I- I don’t really remember what happened. I know that I had just dropped that little boy-”

“Roland” Robin grins. “He’s been glued to my other side for most of this week. Granny took him out to the store for a bit.” 

“Right, Roland” she nods. “I brought Roland inside and then I went back out to find you, and it all gets fuzzy.” She tries to sit up, but as soon as she starts moving a gasp escapes her and she winces. With slow movements she pulls the side of her shirt up, eyes falling upon her bandaged side. 

He comes around to her other side, carefully pulls back her bandages. She goes to stop him, but he insists it’s time to redress them anyhow and peels the bandage from her hip. 

The angry red mark stares back at her, and all ability to breathe leaves her. A bullet hole. A dark, swollen bullet hole pressed into her tanned skin, angry red streaks spider-webbed from the center and spread across her hip. 

“Fucking hell” she whispers. “That’s…

“It isn’t as bad as it looks” he promises. “There’s going to be a scar, but you’ll make a full recovery regardless.” 

She watches quietly as he recovers her wound, carefully patching her back up. He slips her shirt back down and she catches his hand with hers, lifting it to press a kiss to his palm. “Robin, how bad is it out there?” 

“It’s- tough” he pauses. “There’s a lot of casualties, but from the looks of it, the Allies pushed the Axis up toward the mainland. Palermo is going to need some love to fix it back up again.” 

“Did anyone we- please tell me no one we know died. I… I don’t want anyone to have died because of me, because I got hurt. There’s little moments of what happened, I remember Will being there. Was- is anyone else hurt?” 

“They’re okay. A couple of destroyed properties, but everyone was able to find shelter. They’re all out now trying to help families. Mary Margaret and David opened their home up as a shelter, and Belle is working with Ruby to match lost children to their parents. Will and Killian have taken to the rebuilding, and I think the last I heard Tink and Archie are in the hospitals. Everyone else is okay.” 

Regina sighs in relief and runs her fingers once more through Henry’s hair. Silence overtakes them for moment, both watching Henry’s chest rise and fall as he sleeps against her uninjured side. 

“Regina” he starts. “I kissed you.”

“Yeah, you did.” 

“I-” 

“If that’s an apology please don’t say it” she stops him. “You don’t need to apologize for kissing me.” 

Robin grins at her, a dorky smile, and his cheeks redden. “Yeah?” 

“You could do it again, even, if you wanted” she laughs, but her body tenses up and she lets out a groan. “Oh, wow laughing hurts. Getting shot sucks.” Regina glances back up at him, but he quickly leans in and presses a slow kiss to her lips. 

She lifts the hand from the back of Henry’s head to cradle his cheek, innocently kissing him back. He pulls away moments later and presses his forehead to hers. 

“I’m glad I didn’t die” she whispers, pressing another kiss to his lips with a smirk. 

He chuckles back and pushes a fallen hair behind her ear, kissing her once more. “Yeah, i’m glad you didn’t die either.” 


End file.
